the third and the seventh

this year marks the 7th year that i have been submerged in the choppy water of architecture. upon introduction, some people usually ask, "so... why architecture?"

those that know me well will know that it wasn't really my choice - but then again, fresh out of high school, and having just turned 17 - i didn't really know what i wanted to do (except that studying and memorising wasn't really my forte!).

i thought of writing, as i had been actively involved in a young journalist's program - but writing (and sometimes, reading) newspaper articles bores the living daylights of me. then i thought of zoology, but knew while i had passion for all living creatures i seriously lacked the gingko required to remember thousands of body parts and bones and skin and blood vessels.

so really, i left it all to the lovely father to decide upon my fate.

having said that, 6 years (and a bit) now of architecture school - the love that i have for architecture has never gone to the point where i'd intentionally reach for architecture literature on magazine racks, constantly keep up to date on what starchitects are doing, and having an entire folder of bookmarks on my browser for archi related websites...

though, i have been rather lucky that i don't entirely suck at doing what i'm doing .

really. this is not to say that i don't like buildings. i just don't love them.

having said that, everything changed today, during a studio session today, when the tutor projected this clip:





this is a clip called "the third and the seventh" by alex roman - who has truly shown what the essence of architecture is - art - through a cinematographic lens. for those of you who are doing architecture, i strongly urge you to watch it - i hope it will change and inspire you as much as it did me. for those of you who are not doing architecture, do watch it too!

recent architecture has lost its meaning - it's all about status, budget, rules, client aesthetic - and we forget why we chose to become architects to begin with. understand and appreciate the beauty of clean lines, poetic planes, the play of light and shadow, texture, exquisite detail - and how it fuses itself with its environment...

... and start falling in love with architecture once again.